Iran’s President Praises FM Zarif for Standing against US

In comments at a general assembly of the Central Bank of Iran on Tuesday, Rouhani took a swipe at the US government for hatching plots against Iran’s banking system and sale of oil.

“Today, the Foreign Ministry, the Central Bank and the Oil Ministry are on our front line against the US,” he said.

The president also expressed his gratitude to Zarif and to the CBI governor and the minister of oil for serving at the front line in the battle against the US.

His comments came after Zarif announced his resignation from the cabinet in a post on his Instagram account on Monday night.

“Many thanks for the generosity of the dear and brave people of Iran and its authorities over the past 67 months. I sincerely apologize for the inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service. Be happy and worthy,” Zarif wrote on his Instagram page.

Meanwhile, the Iranian president's chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, has rejected media reports that the president has accepted Zarif’s resignation.

“The reports that the president has accepted Dr. Zarif’s resignation are strongly rejected,” Vaezi said in a post on his Twitter account.

Chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatollah Falahat Pishe has also told Tasnim, “We are still unaware whether or not the president has accepted Mr. Zarif’s resignation.”

More than 150 Iranian lawmakers have asked Rouhani to turn down the foreign minister’s resignation.

In a letter, the parliamentarians have asked the president to encourage Zarif to remain in his post.

Born in 1960, Zarif lived in the United States from the age of 17 as a student in San Francisco and Denver, and subsequently as a diplomat to the United Nations in New York, where he served as Iranian ambassador from 2002 to 2007.

He was appointed minister of foreign affairs in August 2013 after Rouhani won the presidency.